Death By Bullying
I was surfing the net, trying to do research for my topic article for Feature Writing, when I chanced upon this certain website. This website lists all the names of the children died from bullycide.
What is bullycide? It’s a new term coined to describe a person’s death because of bullying. Whether it was suicide, an accident or a murder, if it was connected with bullying then it is called bullycide.
It’s disheartening and saddening to see so many names of children listed in this website. And I really mean children because most of them were between the ages of 10-15. In fact, the youngest recorded bullycide is Marie Bentham of Britain, who died at the tender age of 8. She committed suicide by hanging herself with her skipping rope, all because she couldn’t face her bullies in school.
Most of the children listed died by their own hands, just to escape their tormentors. They used different means to kill themselves. They jumped off bridges, they hanged themselves using various objects, they even use a gun. Can you imagine, a 12-year-old boy putting a gun next his head and pulling the trigger? I can’t. And yet, it happened, is probably happening right now, and will probably happen in the near future.
Who are these monsters who drove these children to think that death is their only escape? These monsters can be anyone. They can be you, me, or even an innocent 9-year-old kid. They are the bullies.
I have not been spared from bullying. I know the pain these children have gone through. Bullying can be damaging and dangerous. It can damage your dignity and self-esteem. It can squash you ego like a little bug. It can even kill you.
Please pray for all the souls of these children. May they rest in peace and may we learn from them so that no one would ever decide to do what they though they had to do to escape from the bullies.
URL: Bullycide
